Balance Your Blood Sugar, Keep Off the Weight

Reshape Your Body, Pt 1 (4:18)

Guess what percentage of dieters keeps the weight off for more than two years: 75%? 60%? 50%? The sad truth is only 15-20% of dieters keep the weight off, with 80-85% of people who lose weight regaining it (plus some!) after two years.

From This Episode:

It’s time to shift your mindset when it comes to dieting. By focusing less on fads and more on maintaining a healthy balance of what you eat, you’ll impact your body on a level most diets don’t even consider: Stabilizing your blood sugar.

Your blood sugar level is the amount of glucose from what you eat that’s circulating in your bloodstream to provide energy to cells immediately or be stored for future use. A well-balanced blood sugar level is crucial to your overall fitness and well-being, regulating your hormones, triggering your body to burn stored fat, and increasing your metabolism to help you lose weight.

Unfortunately, most people’s blood sugar is not properly balanced. If you’re getting too much glucose, it leads to high blood-sugar levels, which your body can’t break down and stores as fat. Ironically, not getting enough sugar can also lead to putting on extra pounds! Eating too little glucose can lead to a low blood sugar level, causing your body to go into “starvation mode” where it burns your lean muscle instead of the fat – a double whammy to your system and your diet.

Fortunately, nutritionist Mark MacDonald and Dr. Oz have a 6-step plan to balance your blood sugar, allowing you to lose weight and keep it off!

Step 1: Eat in 3s

What’s the key to eating in 3s? It’s easy! Eat every 3 hours, and divide your plate into thirds: one-third protein, one-third fat, and one-third carbs. Our bodies “want” to eat every 3 hours, as it’s their natural eating schedule dating back from early mankind. Wait longer and your body goes into starvation mode, as it assumes food is scarce and packs on fat for the future instead of burning it away immediately. Be sure to eat within 1 hour of waking up, then every 3 hours thereafter.